


The Ghost of Mount Akina

by PrimerPaint



Category: Initial D
Genre: 90s technology, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Ghost Hunters, Car Accidents, Curses, Folklore Inaccuracy, Ghosts, Hauntings, Historical Inaccuracy, Horror, Japanese Mythology & Folklore, Keisuke curses a lot, M/M, Paranormal, Paranormal Investigators, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Spirits, Takahashis are paranormal investigators, Taking 'Akina's Ghost' to the next level, at least my attempt at it
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-20
Updated: 2020-11-04
Packaged: 2021-03-08 03:40:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 12,413
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26568922
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PrimerPaint/pseuds/PrimerPaint
Summary: One summer, both Keisuke and Ryosuke Takahashi are called to the neighboring city of Shibukawa to investigate multiple reports of paranormal activity happening to street racers along Akina's pass. Some people say its a ghost, while other say its a demon. A recent death in the community has everyone shaken up, and word of a driver-less car racing up and down the slopes causing minor accidents for the racers only brings more cause for concern. The Takahashis need to figure out and fix whatever is happening soon, or these car accidents may develop into something worse.
Relationships: Fujiwara Takumi/Takahashi Keisuke
Comments: 23
Kudos: 40





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> hey! i've been just kinda messing around with this fic for a bit, and while I already have a bit written its not all too long! I think I'm still gonna separate it into small chapters, and just post as I go. This was betaed by, of course, panangari! 
> 
> I would like to mention that while I have tagged Keisuke/Takumi, please note that this probably won't develop for a bit, like really slow-burn stuff lmao like,,, tak doesn't even show up this chapter unu''

The rhythmic beat of the rotary resounded throughout the cabin as the car idled at a stoplight on its way into Shibukawa. Gazing out the right hand window, Keisuke lifted a hand to rub the sweat from his brow. June had just started, but the weather felt unusually warm this afternoon and the lack of an A/C compressor in his car left him in a miserable mood. Out of the corner of his eye Keisuke saw the car in front move forward and reflexively followed as the light turned green, deeper into the heart of the city. 

Keisuke Takahashi was a well known race car driver who was originally a part of his brother’s, Ryosuke Takahashi’s, local street racing team RedSuns. What was less known was both his and his older brother’s interest in the paranormal. Since he could remember, Keisuke had the ability to see and interact with any spirits who roamed the overworld. Ryosuke, while not being able to clearly see any spirits, was still able to detect their presence and was often able to communicate with them. 

The blond had at first always tried his best to ignore any wayward spirits throughout his elementary and middle school years, as his older brother made no mention of sharing in his Affinity. However, a particularly harrowing experience early on in Ryosuke’s high school years within their family’s hospital allowed for them to grow closer and his older brother to open up about how his and Keisuke’s affinities weren’t very different. Since then the two had spent most of their time away from school and racing in the world of the paranormal, looking for ways to get rid of the spirits which haunted them. 

Such a hobby led them to where they were today: driving to Shibukawa, Gunma, to meet up with a local car racer concerned about a possibly ill-willed ghost. Typically these sorts of things were passed over by the pair given the lack of substantial evidence. However, a series of crashes plus multiple reports of a phantom car speeding along the nearby mountain pass had piqued their interest. They were due to meet their contact, Iketani Koichiro, at a local Esso gas station later that night after checking into a hotel. Despite living only in the town over, the pair agreed that having a local home-base of sorts would be best given the absurdly late times that the sightings were often reported at. 

Leaning back in his seat, Keisuke went over the information his brother provided in his head once again. The local togue team, Akina SpeedStars, had been running the course up and down the mountain for the past few years without complaint. However, recently this year there had been an unusually high number of crashes. This alone shouldn’t have been cause for concern, but what was strange was how every victim was a racer, each survived, and they all reported the same thing: an unnatural cold settling into their bones, any music suddenly distorting to static, a blindingly bright flash of headlights, and then suddenly the vehicle would lose all control. 

Flicking on his turn signal, the blond followed his brother’s white FC into the hotel’s parking lot to put away their luggage. It was light on personal items, but at Ryosuke’s insistence they’d brought along a myriad of different cameras and other tech to help record any possible encounters or information for documentation purposes. 

Individual accounts after that would vary, some who were able to avoid hitting any barriers reporting the strange sound of an engine roaring past when they were practicing alone, some of the less fortunate saying they saw a pair of oncoming headlights that vanished by the time they stopped spinning. Their informant, Iketani, had been rather unfortunate in his own encounter; he’d suffered a hospitalization after his S13 slid into the guard rail. 

After settling in as much as possible into their room and going over a general plan as to how to approach this particular case, the brothers were soon slipping into Keisuke’s yellow FD and leaving for the gas station. Iketani had requested that they meet right after his work ended, as it was situated on the main road that worked its way up to Akina’s pass. 

Pulling into the specified Esso station, Keisuke rolled down his window as he rolled up to a pump. A few workers soon hurried over from where they were grouped talking, and Keisuke noticed his brother taking a quiet look around. 

“Welcome, how may we help you?” a voice called, pulling the blond gaze back over. He looked upwards through his window and turned off the engine. 

“Fill it with high-octane.” 

The man nodded, and began working with the pump. Another, shorter, stood near the back of the car and began cleaning the rear window, and just out of view seemed to be a third person, though they seemed to simply be a friend as they were lacking the blue station uniform. The two seemed to be having a conversation, but it was much too quiet for him to hear inside the car. 

After a beat, Keisuke looked back to the man filling the Mazda, “I was told members of the SpeedStars can be found here, is that correct?” 

The man at the pump looked over, a trace of surprise on his face, and he quickly squared his shoulders. “Ah, yes, you would be correct, sir.” A laugh from behind the car drew their attention momentarily, and the pump-worker frowned at his coworker before looking back to Keisuke. He hummed and exited the car. 

“I’m looking for Iketani of the SpeedStars. Is he around?” 

“That would be me, sir. Would you happen to be Takahashi-san?” 

Keisuke felt himself smirk, and reached around in his pocket to pull out a pack of cigarettes. “Yeah, one of them. I’m Keisuke. That’s my brother,” he motioned across the car to where the passenger door was opening, “Ryosuke. Pleasure to meet you.” 

Iketani’s eyes widened slightly before he smiled with some relief, and bowed slightly. “It’s nice to meet you both as well, I’m happy you could make it out here-” the pump clicked, pulling his attention away. Ryosuke decided to take over the conversation, but didn’t move from his position leaning on the roof by the passenger door. 

“Don’t worry, we were actually staying with our parents in Maebashi this summer break. I’m looking forward to seeing Akina’s togue again, though I wish it was under better circumstances.” 

The shorter worker had moved already from cleaning the back window to the front one, and looked up curiously at the mention of their mountain. Glancing between Keisuke and Ryosuke, he cleared his throat nervously, “Back in Akina you say? Wait, you mentioned your name as Ryosuke and Keisuke Takahasi - like the Akagi RedSuns Takahashi brothers?” 

Keisuke looked over curiously, raising an eyebrow with a slight chuckle, “the very same.” 

The younger man’s eyes widened comically, and he clutched the cleaning rag to his chest with a high pitched “kuuuu-!” before quickly looking between the two and smiling. Pointing a thumb at his chest, “I’m Itsuki Takeuchi of the Akina SpeedStars! Perhaps you’ve heard of me, I drive the legendary Eight-Five of Akina!” 

Keisuke glanced over to his brother with a raised brow,  _ ‘Legendary? This kid for real?’.  _ Ryosuke’s look told him he thought much the same, but Iketani soon stepped in with a light-hearted chuckle. “Itsuki, remember when Kenji and I were talking about how the crashes on Akina lately seemed almost supernatural? I ended up calling the Takahashi brothers, and they may be able to solve whatever happens to be causing the Ghost of Mount Akina!”

Itsuki’s face of wide-eyed astonishment morphed into a sort of worried fear as he glanced between the brothers once again. Keisuke noted the change, even as Itsuki attempted to hide his look with a smile, and looked around while fishing for his lighter. He frowned, turning back towards the two station workers. 

“Hey, where’d that other guy get off to? Wasn’t there someone else by the pump when we pulled in?” 

Looking back at the group revealed only confusion from both Iketani and Ryosuke. His brother stayed silent while Iketani looked to the store and back, “Uh, the only other person here is our boss. We were over by the store when you pulled in, though.” Pulling the still-unlit cigarette from his mouth, Keisuke leveled the frown towards the SpeedStar in front of him.

“No, they weren’t wearing a blue shirt. I saw them from my rearview, they were just over there,” he pointed with his cigarette back behind a pillar, and went silent when noticing Ryosuke’s raised eyebrow. Itsuki was silent, and looked mildly uncomfortable. Gritting his teeth and scowling, Keisuke put the cigarette back in his mouth and went to light it, “Nevermind, m’ mirror must be dirty…” 

Ryosuke quickly salvaged the conversation, closing the passenger door and stepping around the car, “Do you mind if we go to talk inside? Keisuke can park his car, and afterwards we can go up to Akina if you feel like it.” As Iketani nodded and motioned back to the store, Keisuke quickly opened his door and started the engine, rolling it to a parking space near a little white Levin. Huffing at the sight of the little stock car, the blond locked the door before joining the group inside the building. The lights to the pump cover had gone out, casting the lot in an eerie darkness.

“...telling us again what you know so far, just so we can get it recorded,” his brother was explaining, sitting at a small table and setting up a portable tape-recorder and small mic.

An older man was leaning back on the counter, also smoking a cigarette, and Keisuke politely nodded to him before going to join his brother. The man must have been the owner, and was most certainly not who Keisuke thought to have seen from his, perfectly clean, rearview mirror. 

Iketani and Itsuki were both seated across the table on the other couch. Itsuki held his hat in his hands and seemed to be nervously fidgeting with it, eyes on his shoes. Keisuke stayed silent, crossing his arms and leaning back, keeping his eyes on the younger worker. Iketani nodded along to Ryosuke’s words, readjusting his hat on his head.

“Well, uh, alright. I suppose I should state my name, too, then?” 

Ryosuke nodded.

“Alright, well, my name is Iketani Koichiro, and I’m the leader of the local racing team up on Mount Akina, the SpeedStars. I work with my teammate Itsuki here at an Esso gas station in Shibukawa. I’ve been running the togue for a few years now, and for the most part everyone I’ve encountered has been doing it pretty safely. Sure, we get people who spin out in the middle of the road, and some close calls because of that, but we haven’t had any major wrecks, except for a rare few.”

He took a breath, and Itsuki lifted his head and seemed to look intently at something right behind both Keisuke and Ryosuke’s seat. Frowning, the blond glanced back to see nothing, and quickly looked back to the younger man. He’d noticed the motion, and quickly flushed under Keisuke’s scrutiny, looking back to his feet. Ryosuke kept his attention on Iketani. 

“Our safety record however, uh, changed quite a lot this spring and summer. Ever since we started grouping up again at the pass this year, things have just been… overall different. Not, uh, not like physically different, but there’s been something in the air - you know? The cars seem to run just the same as always, there wasn’t any construction over winter, and uh... “ 

Iketani paused, wetting his lips and shared an odd look with Itsuki. Keisuke watched the interaction intently, but Ryosuke spoke up. 

“So? What’s happened this spring and summer?” 

Iketani’s gaze snapped back to the brothers, and he swallowed but his nerves seemed to steel.

“People started getting into accidents on the pass - bigger than the usual. At first it was just a couple spin-outs, people maybe scraping the guards or pushing their cars a bit harsher than they should have. Normal stuff, if not oddly more often to happen, but uh… it got progressively a lot worse. I uh, I was the first one who actually wrecked a car on the pass in a long time, this year.” A light flush painted his cheeks, and Iketani brought a hand up to rub at the back of his neck a bit bashfully. “I was admittedly running a bit harder than I normally did, but it shouldn’t have been so far out of my control that I couldn’t save it. I ended up going to the hospital for pretty bad whiplash and some other cuts and bruises. It’s not just me, though, who has gotten into a wreck.

“Itsuki, here, when he was going downhill in his Eight-Five, ended up spinning out and hitting the inside wall of the pass, and needed to spend a few days in the hospital. Another member of our team spun into the gutter and nearly flipped his car up and over the rail. It’s not just the SpeedStars, though! The Myogi NightKids, who came through a week or two ago for a few competitions ended up seriously damaging their cars too. Uh, Nakazato, Nakazato Takeshi, their leader? He drives a black R32, he was doing a run down the hill and says he lost all traction in his GT-R and ended up sliding into the wall to rebound into the railings. I don’t think he got hurt, but their number two driver Shoji Shingo, drives a red EG6, sprained his wrist pretty bad when he said he couldn’t turn and ended up slamming straight into the railing on a corner. 

“There, uh, have been a few others too, but after so many wrecks within like, a month, a lot of people outside of Shibukawa have stayed away, saying the pass is cursed or whatever…” Iketani rubbed his hands together, wetting his lips again and looking quietly down at the floor. Itsuki had nodded along solemnly when Iketani was recounting the list of people who had gotten in wrecks just this year on Akina. 

Keisuke blew out the smoke of his cigarette, moving to tap the ash off the end into a tray and looked silently over to Ryosuke. Stoic as ever, he had his hands steepled in front of his face and watched the two SpeedStars members before him for a moment. Ryosuke flicked his blue eyes over to Keisuke. They both knew that something was certainly odd about the strange change, but Iketani’s information alone didn’t seem to point to anything overtly paranormal. However, they sensed that there was something eerie about the cause behind these wrecks -- they wouldn’t have driven out all this way otherwise.

His older brother lowered his hands and leaned back in the seat, “Can you tell me what happened during your accident, Iketani? Add as much detail as you can remember.”

The oldest SpeedStar quickly looked up, having been broken out of whatever thoughts he was having. Silent for a beat, he quickly blinked and nodded, shifting uncomfortably. Itsuki watched from beside him, fidgeting stopping as his attention increased. Clearing his throat, Iketani began again.

“Uh.. about three and a half weeks ago, on a Friday night, I had gone up Mount Akina pass to practice for a meet up against a team from Akagi - not the RedSuns, though. It was late, maybe, oh, eleven? I had already done a few runs downhill, and I’d just replaced the brakes and tires earlier that day. I was planning on that being my last run of the night, and so I decided to push it just a little harder than I had previously. N-Nothing too bad, you know? Just felt like I was warmed up, so I could try and push myself. 

“I was going downhill, I had done a few of the first high-speed corners. About, uh two I think? As I was nearing the corner, I noticed what sounded like another engine steadily getting closer, like when someone comes flying up behind you? There were no headlights coming from the opposite direction - you can tell really well at the third corner if there is someone. I remember glancing in my rearview to see if someone really had come up behind me. There wasn’t anyone up there when I’d started, but I thought maybe someone came down from the resort and caught up…? I don’t know really, but I don’t remember seein’ much there, and when I looked forward, there was suddenly light - super bright lights!” 

Keisuke watched curiously as Iketani’s eyes were wide in remembrance, falling silent for a moment before blinking and looking between the two of them curiously. 

“Normally, when people come up in front of you when it's dark, their headlights aren’t too bad, right?” Keisuke hummed and nodded in agreement, enraptured in the story. “Even if they have their brights on, especially in a corner, you can still see the lines on the road to know where you’re going. And it's kind of a gradual increase of light from a distance. T-This though... “ Iketani took another breath and rubbed his face. Itsuki placed a hand on his shoulder and gave it a small encouraging rub.

“These were absolutely insane, it filled the whole cabin of my S13 with bright, white light instantly. I couldn’t see my own dashboard. It got weirdly cold, my fingers suddenly felt like they were so stiff that I couldn’t take them off the wheel ‘cause of it. That other engine sound too, it suddenly got super loud and I thought for sure I was going to ram head-on into this other car. I pulled my car just enough to get out of the direct path of the lights, and in an instant they disappeared. By that time I think I had been going too fast, and the corner sharpens at the very end, and I ended up skidding into the guardrail. The driver’s side front of the S13 got wedged under the railing, and I think my harness is what saved my life…” 

After a beat, Itsuki quietly nudged Iketani and mouthed a ‘tell them what happened’. Keisuke’s interest increased, and his eyes eagerly looked to Iketani. 

The SpeedStar was silent for a moment longer before looking up and locking his gaze with Ryosuke’s. “When everything stopped, though, there was nothing. No engine sounds, no one stopping to see what happened, no lights continuing back up the hill. It was as if there hadn’t actually been a car at all…” He took a breath and rubbed his neck, as if it were still sore. Keisuke wouldn’t be surprised if it was. “I got to the hospital because someone went down an hour or so later and found me after I’d apparently passed out. I just got back my S13 from repairs the other day.” 

Keisuke blew out a breath of smoke at the end of Iketani’s story, eyes wide. He knew the wrecks were a bit strange, but if all of the victims had experienced something like this? He looked over to Ryosuke, who was watching the SpeedStars before also looking over. A small smile that seemed to say  _ ‘See? I told you this was worth it’ _ crossed Ryosuke’s face, before he shifted to check his watch and the time on the tape recorder. Keisuke quietly clicked his tongue and crossed his arms after putting out his cigarette. 

Ryosuke thanked Iketani for telling him his story, and shifted his attention over to the youngest in the room. “Itsuki, right?”, Ryosuke asked, and continued after receiving a nod. “Iketani said you also got into an accident recently on Akina. Do you mind if you share that with us now, so it can be recorded for review?” 

The young man’s eyes blew wide, cheeks pinking slightly at the role-model-racer’s direct attention. Keisuke smirked to himself and leaned back to watch, though he kept an eye on Iketani from the corner of his vision. 

However, before Itsuki could agree, a gruff voice cleared their throat from behind the group. The SpeedStars started, and while Keisuke wouldn’t admit it verbally, he too almost jumped in surprise. Ryosuke, ever the unshakeable, simply looked over to the old man who appeared to have already changed and cleaned up the room. 

“Actually,” he began, “it’s a little past closing. Sorry to break it up, but I’m meeting with a friend, I can’t keep the shop open much longer.” 

Ryosuke smiled politely and nodded in understanding. Reaching over, he stopped the tape recording, and looked between Iketani and Itsuki. “I do apologize for keeping you two so long. Perhaps we should keep this for a later date. Itsuki, when do you happen to be free tomorrow to tell us about your incident?” 

“O-Oh, uh, I get off of work early tomorrow, around four-thirty. I suppose anytime after that?”

“And you, Iketani?” 

Iketani blinked slightly in surprise, having removed his hat to run a hand through his hair, “Uh, about six in the afternoon.” 

Keisuke busied himself with packing away the recorder, leaving the tape in and turning off the power so they could continue tomorrow from the same spot. Ryosuke nodded, checking his watch once more, “Then, how do you feel about us meeting at Lake Akina around seven? We can record Itsuki’s recount. By then it should be dark, and you can show us the course. Sound good?”

Both SpeedStars members nodded, and the four of them all stood. Ryosuke thanked them, and, after the workers went to get changed, shifted his attention to the owner. “Tachibana-san, thank you very much for letting us stay as late as we did. I apologize for keeping you.”

The old man, Tachibana apparently, smiled warmly and shook his head with a light chuckle. “Don’t worry about it,” he said, “my friend just gets amazingly grouchy if I show up late. You’re welcome back here if you need to ask any more questions, just try not to do it in the middle of rush hour, yeah?” a teasing wink accompanied the statement, and both he and Ryosuke chuckled good-naturedly. Itsuki and Iketani soon both came back out, and the five of them left the building and headed to the parked cars. 

Iketani and Ryosuke continued to talk to one another, Keisuke easily looking towards his FD. The little Levin that sat beside it was unassuming as ever, but a strange chill down his spine made the blond reconsider the car. The lights in the shop went off, and only the ambient glow of the street lights chased away the shadows on the lot. There wasn’t anything out of the ordinary about the Eight-Five or his own RX-7, but a nagging feeling at the back of his head told him to keep an eye on the shadows as he approached. A loud chirp broke his concentration, and the blond looked to the side to see the old man opening the door to his Camry. 

Humming, Keisuke spun around to face Ryosuke, who had come up next to him already. He looked ready to ask what was bothering his younger brother, but after seeing Keisuke’s frown thought better of it. The two of them reached the FD and got in after bidding their farewells to the SpeedStars. Letting the rotary warm for a moment, the Takahashi brothers were the second to leave, behind Tachibana. From the looks of it, Iketani’s seafoam S13 was pulling out right after them. 

Turning onto the main road back to the hotel, Keisuke happened to look back over to where the Eight-Five sat, Itsuki talking with another person as they stood outside the little car. The blond almost slammed on his brakes in realization, and quickly reached across to grab his brother’s arm after doing a double take. The shadows didn’t let him see who was there clearly, but Keisuke swore the figure had the same shirt as the one he saw when they entered the Esso station.

Forced to follow the flow of traffic, the gas station was quickly blocked, and Keisuke found that he could breathe again. A strange chill had settled over his body, and he released his brother’s arm stiffly. Looking back to the road, he heard his brother zip the bag with the tape recorder in it. 

“Keisuke? What did you see?”

Glancing over, he furrowed his brows and an uncomfortably familiar hollow sensation filled his chest. “The Levin, Itsuki or whoever’s, you see it alright then?” Ryosuke simply nodded. Keisuke gulped. “How many people did you see standing by it when you looked?”

Ryosuke’s face hardened in realization, and quietly he looked back to the road ahead. Keisuke did the same, already knowing the answer. God, he hated this sometimes. They at least already had a lead, he supposed. His brother answered after a moment anyways.

“I only saw Itsuki standing by the Eight-Five.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “What’s up with this fuckin’ weather,” he muttered to himself, allowing the rotary to warm up, once again wishing for A/C.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> its october!! time for another chapter, i think :)

Ryosuke insisted that they both drive their own cars for their journey up the slopes towards Akina Lake the next evening. Keisuke at first thought little of it, but as the road began to steepen and the turns began to sharpen, he was happy he was on his own. Once he felt the familiar rush and power his FD supplied when faced with an uphill run, Keisuke was subconsciously driving up the hill much faster than the average day-tripper.

Since he’d started working more towards going pro, he had forgotten the feeling of traveling to different slopes around the prefecture. Of course, it was still daylight, and to run up the hill full-blast could risk an accident with oncoming traffic. So, the white FC sticking close in his rearview, Keisuke charged up the slope responsibly.

Pulling into the parking lot of Akina Lake revealed a familiar white Levin and a pair of Nissans, a seafoam S13 and what looked to be a 180sx. Parking, Keisuke glanced at his car’s clock and noted they were nearly fifteen minutes early. Ryosuke was already getting out of his car nearby, and so the blond quickly followed suit, turning to see the SpeedStars by a picnic table not far from the lot. 

Ice ran through his veins when Keisuke noticed three people sitting at the benches, and he gripped the top of his door. The figures were a bit far away, but the third seemed to be a man with black hair, parted down the center, sitting near what was most likely Iketani. 

“Keisuke?”

Jolting, Keisuke glanced over to find Ryosuke watching him a few steps from his FC. Eyes wide, he looked back to the table where he could tell Itsuki was waving to them. Stiffly, muscles tense and breaths coming out short, he approached his brother and they began towards the table.

“How many?” he muttered when he was close enough to him. Ryosuke was silent for a moment as he deciphered what his brother meant.

“Three.”

Three. Keisuke let out a breath of relief, before quickly chastising himself. He shouldn’t be so on edge, this sort of stuff wasn’t any different than the other times the two of them had gone out ghost hunting. He wasn’t seeing anyone he shouldn’t. 

Though they were only about sixty meters away, Keisuke still had a hard time being able to tell the difference between a spirit and a regular human. Depending on how they wished to depict themselves, if a spirit didn’t really want to think of how they died it was nearly impossible to tell the difference by sight alone. Of course, Keisuke could always confirm his suspicions by touching them. If they were a spirit, they would lack the warmth of the living, a heartbeat, and the telltale rise and fall of a breathing chest. They also had the ability to be semi corporeal, and float up to a foot or so off the ground. But honestly, who in the world wanted to touch a ghost to begin with? It probably didn’t help that Keisuke never wore his glasses, and that the distance just made things a bit foggy for him. 

Iketani stood as the brothers got within a few meters of the table, and bowed slightly. “I hope you don’t mind,” he started, “that my friend Kenji joined us. He’s the second in the SpeedStars, and has been racing for almost as long as I have.” Kenji bowed slightly from his position at the table in introduction, sitting near Itsuki.

Ryosuke merely shook his head politely towards Iketani, and introduced both him and his brother, “No, not at all. Iketani mentioned that you also suggested that we both come out here, correct?” 

“Yes. While I haven’t had any crashes myself, I think that there’s something supernatural happening to our pass, and that it would be dangerous to leave it alone,” Ryosuke nodded along as he set up the tape recorder. Keisuke simply huffed, pulling out a cigarette to light, What, does he have the sixth sense too or somethin’?

Keisuke sat down on the free side of the bench next to Ryosuke, as Itsuki had moved over near the other SpeedStars when they approached. He kept his eyes on Itsuki, who was fidgeting nervously and worriedly glancing at both Iketani and Kenji. After the other night, the blond was very ill-inclined to trust him. 

“Alright, Itsuki,” Ryosuke began once everything had been set up properly. “Do you mind if you tell us about your accident here on Akina? Add as much detail as you can remember, and don’t forget to start with your name. Please.” 

Itsuki stuttered, but quickly got a hold of himself and began to retell his story. He described how he’d taken a girl for a date at the lake, and it was dark by the time they’d left. The two of them were the last to leave the parking lot, so he would have never considered someone coming up behind them. The two of them were talking, listening to the radio, when the air had gone oddly cold. 

Itsuki falls silent for a moment before looking up and glancing between Ryosuke and Keisuke, “It was horrifying, really. I, uh, I’m still learning the downhill, right? So in the corners I’m not quite the most confident yet. So, when I was getting ready to go into the next corner with all I had to, uh, show the girl I was with what I did with the SpeedStars, I saw a pair of headlights rush up behind me. There wasn’t really any engine noise, at least not at first. The chill from before got worse, a lot worse, and then the radio suddenly went out… 

“At the apex of the corner, uh, that's when it all really happened. The lights behind me, which were really close, maybe a few centimeters from my bumper? They got blindingly bright, and then suddenly another engine roared. My Eight-Five lurched really weirdly, not like I’d been bumped, but close? The lights disappeared, the engine sounds vanished, but by then I had already lost control of my car and uh… we went skidding into the guard rail.”

The young man once again went silent, and soon Ryosuke realized Itsuki had finished. Keisuke leaned back and crossed his arms, taking a drag off his cigarette as he looked out towards the lake. The sun had already set, and the sky was slowly growing darker. Ryosuke had a small pen and notepad this time, and finished writing something in it before he looked up to the three SpeedStars. 

“Do any of you happen to have any sort of description for the car whose headlights you saw?”

Keisuke looked back to study the three’s faces. Kenji and Iketani shared a look, while Itsuki fiddled with his hands in his lap nervously. The blond frowned, moving to pull the cigarette out of his mouth to ask what was making the kid so nervous, when Kenji spoke up.

“I’ve heard-tell that it's some little car… a hatchback with popups or something. Old, I think I’ve heard? Boxy, that sorta thing,” he describes, shifting uncomfortably in his seat. He looks to the tape recorder, which is still running, and clears his throat quietly.

Iketani came in before he could continue, however. “I didn’t see an actual car with my encounter, and it was hard to make out what kind of headlights with how bright it was. It sounded like a smaller engine though, maybe a four-cylinder? I’m not well-enough versed to know much more than that, I’m afraid,” he concluded, rubbing the back of his neck while looking down at the table. 

Ryosuke continued noting down what they described, scribbling messily away in his notepad. Dabbing out the cigarette against the stained wood of the picnic table, Keisuke looked back at Itsuki. Tired of waiting for the kid to start talking, he blew out his smoke to the side and frowned. “Itsuki,” he clipped, “what about you? See anything descriptive?” 

Seemingly jolted from the unexpectedness of Keisuke’s voice, Itsuki’s head snapped up with wide eyes. He quickly got ahold of himself, however, clearing his throat and rubbing under his nose slightly. He glanced between everyone at the table before shrugging sheepishly, “No, nothing really. I mean, when I looked in my rear-view, I thought I caught a flash of what looked like a white car? Coulda been the moonlight on the road, though.” Itsuki continued his nervous fidgeting, and glanced around the area almost as if he was looking out for something. 

Scowling, Keisuke opened his mouth to ask what ‘the fuck the matter’ was, but was cut off by his brother snapping his notebook shut and reaching across to the tape recorder. 

“Well, thank you for telling us what you three know.” Deft fingers stopped the recording, moving to take out the tape and label it before sliding it into a clear cassette case. Even sitting next to him, Ryosuke’s handwriting was so bad Keisuke had a hard time deciphering the ‘SpeedStars; 1st interviews’ and the date scrawled across the white bar. Ryosuke looked up from putting away the tape recorder to nod politely to the three across the table. 

It was darker now, just light enough that one could read without aid. Ryosuke looked at his watch with a slight hum and stood up. Keisuke stood as well, listening to his brother as he addressed the SpeedStars. “In a few days we’re going to be setting up some cameras at a few of the corners along this pass, set to record throughout the night. A sort of trail-cam set up, with night vision. Your team doesn’t normally practice weekdays, correct?”

Iketani nodded, slightly surprised. “Ah, yeah,” he stood as well, a bit awkwardly as he stayed between the bench and the table, “do you think you’ll get this ghost on video or something?” 

Keisuke grabbed the bag that his older brother just finished zipping together, “Nah, the cameras are motion-activated to take pictures. If a car or somethin’ goes by, we should be able to see it.”

“Are there any other roads that connect to this one between the water tower and the bottom of the hill?” Ryosuke asks, looking at Iketani. 

“There’s a few pull-offs, but they’re mostly just dirt trails. Hardly anyone uses them, and if they do it is during the day.” 

Ryosuke nodded and the two brothers thanked the SpeedStars once again for agreeing to meet them at the top of the mountain this late in the evening. The five eventually all stood and meandered their way to the parking lot, the SpeedStars grouping together around Iketani’s S13 while Keisuke followed his brother to the back of the white FC. 

Ryosuke unlocked the hatch, putting in the small bag before digging through another. The blond watched the three SpeedStars as they mingled. Every now and then one of them would toss a look over towards the brothers. It was starting to get on his nerves, but his brother caught his attention before he could do anything. “Keisuke, I want you to run this pass tonight,” Ryosuke pulled out a camera and checked its settings.

Eyes widening, he looked over to his older brother, “Hah? Like to try and see if the ghost is gonna crash my FD?” Scowling, Keisuke looked over to his beloved Mazda, “You’ve got some nerve asking me to risk my car, Aniki…” 

Ryosuke simply chuckled, and pressed the digital camera into his chest. “I’m confident you can maneuver your car well enough to avoid a collision. I’d think it would be best to stay out here the whole night, to see what time this ghost may be the most active.” 

Keisuke held the camera as he watched the SpeedStars leave the parking lot in their cars, heading down the slope. Ryosuke busied himself in the FC’s trunk, and the blond pursed his lips in thought. The whole night, and it was only about seven thirty now… Frowning, Keisuke spun back around to see his brother shutting the hatch, “and what are you gonna be doin’ during that time?”

Ryosuke had a notebook and a camera of his own, strap hanging off one of his shoulders as he loaded film. The camera he’d given Keisuke had been digital, some Kodak that he knew their family cherished. 

Ryosuke didn’t spare him a glance, and instead snapped shut the casing on his camera to finish loading, “I’ll be here for a few hours, then I’ll go through Shibukawa to try and see if I can find any other groups of racers, and ask about the Ghost of Akina. You can stop along the road if you want, I don’t expect you to be driving your car all night. Here,” he held out the film camera, reaching for and taking the Kodak from his brother’s grasp. “Use this one, I’m sure you know how to use it. Should be mostly automatic, and I’ve bumped up the film to help you with night time shots. Do your best to keep it still when there’s no light, though, okay?” 

Grumbling, Keisuke checked over the camera and looked around the parking lot. “What am I supposed to shoot, though? It's dark everywhere on this course. You really think I’mma see that ghost tonight?” 

The other shrugged and went to get into the FC, “No, but it’s best to be prepared. If you see someone else on the road, take note of their car and the time.” Ryosuke gave him a wry smirk, and said “Plus, I know you’re itching to race Akina anyway, you must be getting rusty, being on the track.” 

He shut his door before Keisuke could snap back at him, and the white RX-7 flared to life a moment later. Grumbling, the blond walked back to his car and unlocked it, tossing the film camera into the passenger’s seat. Really, the nerve of that guy, he wasn’t getting rusty! Ryosuke hadn’t even seen him on the togue in a while… unless he could tell on the way up? 

“Shit.” He keyed on his FD, itching to show his brother he was still just as good on the slopes as ever.

//

Keisuke was not, in fact, still just as good on the slopes as ever. The FD was currently oversteering dangerously close towards the inside wall of the mountain, back end miles away from the guardrail, and he struggled to keep the Mazda in control. Gripping the steering wheel until his knuckles turned white, he upshifted, and powered up the straight for what felt like the hundredth time that night. 

It’d been a little over six and a half hours since Ryosuke left at about nine thirty to search through Shibukawa. So far, Keisuke had seen a few local SpeedStars crawl down the mountain pass, a couple late-night workers head back home from whatever resort they were from at the top of the mountain, and he’d taken a nap. Well, as close to a nap as he could get sweating in the RX-7’s uncomfortable racing seats. He wished he still had A/C.

Irritated and armed with a stiff back, he’d decided to practice an uphill run to the parking lot at the base of the lake so he could grab a canned coffee from the vending machine. Keisuke had slept longer than he probably should have if he wanted to keep an eye on the mountain, but so far nothing unusual had happened, and he was getting bored. 

Flying past the empty pull out near the water tower, he let up slightly on the accelerator and allowed the engine to naturally slow as the entrance to the parking lot neared. According to the clock in his dash it was nearly a quarter past four in the morning. Scowling, the blond flung his FD into the parking lot and selected a spot closest to the vending machine as he could actively think of doing. Keisuke was not, by any means, a morning person. 

He turned off the engine and grabbed a few yen from the center console before getting out. The light above the vending machine flickered ominously. The sound of bugs tapping against the glass bulb echoed through the silence of the hot night as the humidity stuck to Keisuke’s skin. The faint lapping of the lake’s waves could be heard from this distance, and the leaves stood still as death at the lack of a breeze. The moon had set hours ago, leaving the area extra dark.

Slamming his door shut, Keisuke of course didn’t bother to notice any of the atmospheric cues that may have given others pause, and simply trudged towards the thing which promised energy and possibly relief from his sore neck. The can thunked into the waiting tray at the bottom of the machine, and as he bent to grab it, a car door shutting echoed through the night behind him.

Startling, Keisuke caught his hand in the flap protecting the tray at the bottom of the machine, and spun around cursing. Holding his sore fingers and can of coffee up to his chest, he saw that a small car he’d neglected to notice pull in sat across the lot. The overhead light didn’t help his view much, but it seemed to be a two-door hatch, sitting and running with the lights on.

At first he didn’t see anyone standing around the car, but as he made his way towards the FD, he caught sight of them. Leaning against the hood, partially illuminated by the pop-up headlights, someone sat and watched the lake in front of them. A chilled breeze had Keisuke clutching his warm coffee tighter, and the blond hovered near the driver’s side door of his Mazda, eyes fixed on the figure. His throat felt dry, and as he went to take a sip of his coffee, he found his teeth had clenched and his movements felt stiff. 

“Che”, he muttered to himself, watching the car over the edge of the coffee can, “it’s just some guy with his car at the lake. At four in the morning. It’s normal.” It wasn’t normal. He hadn’t seen anyone up here for hours, even before his nap. The figure didn’t move, and the content rumble of the little car’s idle floated along with the cold breeze. “I’ll just go talk to him, ain’t that big’a deal,” Keisuke muttered to himself, gripping the coffee can tighter and struggling to put one foot in front of the other. For some reason, he felt as if he should have grabbed a jacket before getting his coffee. 

As he got closer it became easier to see the person sitting against the hood. Short hair, standing shorter than Keisuke, jeans, and an average sweatshirt. It was too dark to make out anything else. The car was white, a little Trueno by the look of it, and as the blond approached the left side, it looked to be a regular Panda Trueno. He took another sip of his warm coffee, and slightly scuffed his shoes against the pavement to grab the figure’s attention. 

They jumped, head snapping around in surprise. It was too dark to get a good look at his face, but Keisuke raised a hand anyway. “Hey, what’s up,” he said, trying to sound friendly, “‘s kinda late, dontcha think?” He knew that his bleached hair made him look like an intimidating Tokyo gangster to most people, and here he was walking up to a complete stranger in the dark. He cleared his throat a bit awkwardly, coming up to the front corner of the car. “Well, I guess it’d be early, right?” 

The figure kept quiet, taking a step back and into one of the headlight’s beams. It illuminated the spooked form of a younger guy, brown hair, and a pale face. He didn’t look like he was much older than Keisuke, though it was still dark and hard to make out the details. Keisuke stopped as the breeze picked up, ruffling both their hair and sending a chill down his spine. 

“Ah, I didn’t mean to scare ya, name’s Takahashi Keisuke. I was out for a drive, didn’t expect anyone up so early.”

He seemed to hesitate a beat, before his shoulders dropped and a hand came up to scratch lightly against his cheek. “I’m uh, Fujiwara… It's nice to meet you,” he was quiet, sounding a bit unsure of his own voice. Keisuke took another sip of his coffee as he waited to see if he was going to get a first name, but when none came, he motioned outwards. 

“What’s got you out here so early? You work at the lake or somethin’?” 

Fujiwara shook his head, moving back to lean against the car. The wind bit Keisuke’s skin just a little bit colder. “No, I do tofu deliveries.”

Keisuke watied once again for the other to elaborate, and frowned slightly when he didn’t. He wasn’t that creepy looking, right? Then again, he’d just gotten up from a bad nap in his car, so he could look like a goblin. With that in mind, Keisuke raked a hand self-consciously through his hair, looking over the little Trueno. The exhaust note was nice, it certainly didn’t sound stock. Eight-Six then? The breeze blew again, sapping some more heat from Keisuke. When’d it get so fucking cold? 

Awkward silence filled the air, though the brunette simply continued to watch the dark space where the lake likely resided. Feeling uncomfortable in this social situation, the blond took another sip of his coffee and glanced back toward his FD. It looked further away than he imagined, standing alone and outlighted from the void by the harsh light of the blue-green fluorescent bulb by the vending machine. The sound of the leaves rose again as the breeze came through, and Keisuke suddenly heard a door click open.

Fujiwara had moved to the opposite side of the car and opened the driver’s side. The interior map light only faintly reached his face, but Keisuke could tell he looked a little uncomfortable nonetheless. The yellow lamp gave some life into what looked like unusually pale skin. “Sorry,” he started when he’d noticed Keisuke look over, “my father is expecting me back soon. I don’t normally stop. It was nice meeting you, Takahashi-san.”

Blinking, Keisuke took a few steps away politely. “Ah, no worries. I’ll see you later, I guess,” he raised his coffee slightly in lieu of a wave, “It was nice meeting you, too.” 

By the time the Eight-Six had left the lot, and Keisuke had made it over to the drivers side of his FD, the breeze had stopped, and a sheen of sweat coated the back of his neck. Opening the door, he grumbled and reached for the notebook listing all the cars he’d seen that night.

“What’s up with this fuckin’ weather,” he muttered to himself, allowing the rotary to warm up, once again wishing for A/C.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I cant believe i didn't realize I shoulda posted a new chapter of my spooky story on hALLOWEEN!!! I'm so sorry!!!!!

“A tofu deliveryman?” Ryosuke asked from across the booth, frowning. 

They were at a local Family’s diner for a late lunch, Keisuke having slept until noon once he’d gotten back to the hotel room. He’d forgotten how nice a lumpy bed could feel.

“Mhmm,” the blond hummed around a mouthful of food, reaching to his glass to take a drink after swallowing. “He didn’t say where to, though. Just said his name was Fujiwara, and that he was doin it for his dad.” Keisuke shoveled another forkfull of the western-style breakfast into his mouth. 

Ryosuke merely watched, enjoying a cup of tea after his much lighter lunch. He’d already had breakfast while Keisuke slept. “Did you ask him about the Ghost of Akina?” As Keisuke shook his head, his brother took a drink of his tea before placing the cup onto the table. “Well, Shibukawa is a relatively small town. There can’t be that many father and son Fujiwara Tofu shops who offer delivery. What time did you say you saw him?”

“‘Bout four,” Keisuke mumbled around another mouthful, not caring about Ryosuke’s slight look of disgust towards his lack of manners. The blond didn’t care, their parents weren’t there to scold him for it, and he was fuckin’  _ hungry _ . Last night sucked. Ryosuke looked out the window where there was a nice view of the main road up to the mountain, and past the Esso station. 

“Well,” he started, “I don’t think he’ll be much use to track down. If we see him again on the pass, we can ask him then.” Moving to open a pocket notebook Ryosuke kept on him, he took another sip of his tea. “I didn’t find out much else the other night. It seems the SpeedStars are Akina’s only major racing team. If we want more testimonies, we’ll either have to wait for a meetup this weekend or go to Myogi for the NightKids. 

Looking at his older brother critically, Keisuke finished his glass of water. “The NightKids, the leader’s Nakazato, right?” Ryosuke nodded, a little confused.

“What does he drive again? Was it an S14?”. 

Ryosuke wondered where this was going, “It was an S13, but no, he has an R32 now.” 

“Tch,” Keisuke clicked his tongue, moving to scoop up another forkfull of food. “Fuck that. Ask Iketani if he can get an impromptu get-together with the SpeedStars tonight or somethin’.” Putting the food into his mouth, the blond grumbled ornerily, “fuckin’ Skylines, whas’ so cool ‘bout them? Heavy fuckers…” 

Ryosuke was silent a moment, before chuckling softly and looking back at the window. He’d forgotten his younger brother’s hate for the Skylines. Mentally making a list, he figured he needed to set aside some more tapes for interviews of the other SpeedStar members first.

//

The meeting with the other SpeedStar members the next evening was uneventful. They gathered around Iketani’s S13, tape recorder on the hood, and told their stories to Ryosuke as well as they could. Keisuke, restless as ever, spent his time wandering around and observing most of their cars. Every now and then, his eye would flick over to the road, almost expecting to see a small Trueno drive past. Of course it was about eleven thirty, so there was no reason Fujiwara would be out and about up here. 

He noticed a few people heading back to their cars, and looked over to find Ryosuke finishing up. As he neared, he caught the backend of the conversation. 

“... put them up tonight, then? And what do they do, again?” Iketani was asking, watching Kenji handle what seemed to be one of their motion-activated trail cameras. Ryosuke reached out, taking the camera back and set it up facing the back of the S13.

“They’re motion activated and night-oriented,” he explained, before moving his hand out in front of the lens by about a foot. The shutter audibly snapped, and the machine at the bottom of the camera wound the film automatically. Keisuke came up and leaned on the car near his brother, watching Kenji’s and Iketani’s interest. Itsuki wandered over from talking with some other SpeedStar member by his Levin, quietly slipping into the conversation. 

“We hope that by putting some of these cameras up along this road, we may be able to catch a photo of something interesting. We’ll put them up tonight, and then let them stay up until Saturday. That way we’ll have a day of regular traffic, and then of the SpeedStar’s practice. If another accident occurs because of this Ghost of Akina, we may be able to get a photo of it.” 

The two SpeedStar’s eyes widened in awe, looking at the camera once again like it held a vast collection of otherworldly secrets. To Keisuke it just sounded like they’d have to change the film a shitton Friday and Saturday nights. 

Eventually they all said their goodbyes, Keisuke and his brother heading back over towards Ryosuke’s Mazda. 

“Where are we going to set up the cameras? We’ve got five, right?” Keisuke asked as he watched Ryosuke unlock and open the hatch, reaching inside to find a case. His brother nodded, taking the camera Keisuke held to put into the back as well.

“Obviously one at the skate park Iketani mentioned the other day,” Ryosuke pulled out a hard case and balanced it on the lip above the taillights, opening it. “One again here at the water tower where the SpeedStars normally start their races. The other three, I’m not quite sure… we can place a few at the five hairpins towards the base of the mountain. Any ideas?” 

The blond pulled a new cigarette from his pocket idly, watching the rest of the SpeedStars break apart and enter each of their respective cars. The S13 and the 180sx rolled out right-after-another, the small Levin waiting after being started. It was too dark now to make out anything from inside the cabin. 

Lighting his cigarette, Keisuke hummed and blew out a puff of smoke, “I like the idea of putting a few at the hairpins. How about adding the last at the turn-off for the parking lot up here? So we can see if the car is specific to the race course, or if it comes up to the lake.” 

Shifting his gaze from the stationary Levin, he looked across the pull out and tried to remember what was at the Lake worth while. He remembered the tofu delivery boy. “There's a hotel over there or somethin’, right? A resort of sorts? Maybe it could just be some crazy worker…” even as he said it, Keisuke knew that Fujiwara didn’t fit with the paranormal experiences the racers all had. His brother simply checked the batteries once again in all of the cameras before checking to make sure that the film was loaded properly in each. 

At last the Levin pulled out of its parking spot, quietly rolling out of the lot and down the hill and leaving the brother’s rotaries the only cars left. The tail lights flickered out of sight as Ryosuke shut the hatch to his RX-7. “We’d best hurry to set up the cameras before it gets too late,” he said after setting four of the cameras on the back glass, balanced by the spoiler, “I’ll put one out on the corner before the parking lot. Take two of the others and put them at the first set of hairpins.” 

Taking another pull from his cigarette, Keisuke simply grunted in response and snatched two of the cameras from the back of the FC. Fishing for his keys out of his back pocket, the blond walked the short distance to his Mazda to help speed up the process of putting up cams. All the while, he couldn’t shake the feeling that he was being watched. 

// 

When the three nights were up, the two of them had to set out to collect and develop the film. During the wait, while Keisuke desperately wanted to go test himself against the slope of Mount Akina once again, he helped his brother with even more interviews of nearby teams and the occasional loner. None of the stories stood out too much from the others, which at first seemed rather bland, but considering the fact that many believed it to be a supernatural entity, the consistency was absurd. Not even many alien-sightings tended to have their stories straight.

Sitting passenger in his brother’s car, Keisuke’s foot bounced slightly against the floorboards as they drove back from the film shop. They’d elected to wait to review the footage until they could meet up with Iketani, Kenji, and Itsuki after hours at the Esso station. The wait was, to say the least, driving Keisuke up the wall. 

Impatient by nature, the clarity at which the victims of the Ghost of Akina retold their stories did nothing but make the blond more and more anxious about finding out the truth. Was there some crazy spirit causing wrecks on the mountain, or was it some crazy local driver who thought torturing kids and destroying their cars was a fun pastime?

By the time the white FC pulled into the dark lot of the gas station, the packet of photos was sitting on the dashboard. It was originally in Keisuke’s lap, but after a passing comment as to how the blond was close to ripping the photos in half with how tight his grip was from Ryosuke, he elected to put them out of harm’s way. If he lost them now, it would be impossible to know what was up on the mountain the past two nights. 

Iketani was standing with Kenji and Itsuki outside of the shop, Tachibana smoking close by. Ryosuke reached across and snatched the white package off the dash before Keisuke could finish unbuckling his seatbelt. Quickly, the blond scrambled to get out of the car and follow his brother as he’d already exited and was beginning to greet the SpeedStars. 

“We haven’t looked at them yet,” Ryosuke prefaced, bowing politely to Tachibana. 

“How long did you leave the cameras out for, again?” Kenji asked, allowing the brothers to pass as they all entered the building and made their way over to the small coffee table. 

“Three nights,” Keisuke flopped down beside his brother on the small couch, reaching around into one of his own pockets for his packet of cigarettes and lighter. He was feeling a headache come on, and as Keisuke lit a smoke, he ignored the slight tremble to his hand. He hated sitting and waiting for shit, he just wanted it to happen.

Kenji sat across from the brothers in a chair, Iketani and Itsuki taking the couch perpendicular to them. Tachibana hovered nearby, busying himself with something on the counter, but obviously curious. 

“I’m not expecting too much, though the developers said there were only a few photos that were totally underexposed. I’ve got three sets,” Ryosuke explained, pulling out three smaller slips full of photos, “one for each night as when we came to turn off the cameras in the morning we replaced the film. I’ve asked the developer to group the film rolls in sets of five.”

Setting the first packet down on the table, Ryosuke pulled out the stack of photos. “This should be from the Thursday,” he said, proceeding to explain where the two of them had chosen to place cameras and dividing up the stack to hand out to the three others. Keisuke simply looked at the ones Ryosuke held. 

“I would like for you to look through them and separate them into photos of cars, and those without. Then, we can go through all the vehicles to see if we find something out of the norm, before continuing on to the others. We’ll do the same with the next day’s,” Ryosuke proceeded to flip through the photos. 

The first few were of the setup, then of the white FC as it passed. Obviously, this was the first camera set up atop of the mountain, near Lake Akina. There were few of that location, mostly wildlife and a few older-model cars passing to go further up the road. There were about three photos of the same car, two of it heading uphill, and one of it moving downhill. Keisuke recognized it as the tofu delivery car he’d seen, and the timestamps matched up fine.

A choked cough from across the table pulled Keisuke’s attention from the little white car, and he looked to see Itsuki covering his mouth as he attempted to calm himself. Upon noticing the attention of all those at the table, he flushed red and waved his hands, photos and all. “Ah, sorry sorry! I must have swallowed wrong, I’m fine!” he said, voice high-pitched and broken with weak coughs. 

Iketani and Kenji simply grumbled before continuing on to looking at their photos. Ryosuke watched a beat longer, making sure he was okay, before continuing to flip through and sort his own stack. Keisuke flicked the ash from his cigarette into a tray, watching Itsuki as he stared down at a few photos, before shakily putting them into a pile. 

In the end there were a total of four different cars spotted on the road that first night, excluding the RX-7s. One was seen repeatedly racing up and down the hill later in the evening, starting at the watertower and turning around at the skatepark, and was identified by Iketani as a local racer. Two were seen early in the morning, perhaps thirty minutes before the cameras were shut off, heading up the hill and passing the parking lot, possibly going to work at the hotel. 

The final was the small black-and-white hatchback seen early in the morning heading up the hill, and past the parking lot. Not much later, it was seen coming back down the mountain at a much faster pace, most of its photos then being a blurry mess. On the downhill photos, it was revealed that the car had script on the passenger door. Though most of it was illegible, Ryosuke could make out the hiragana for “tofu” and what seemed to be the kanji for “shop”. The car was seen drifting the hairpins on both the uphill and downhill, and the line it appeared to be taking even gave Ryosuke pause to admire.

Upon showing this hatchback to the others in the room, they fell deathly silent at first. Iketani let out a remorseful sigh at the sight of the car, shoulders slightly deflating. Kenji, after a hushed conversation with Iketani, soon seemed dejected as well. Itsuki for once didn’t fiddle, instead gripping his hands together so tightly that his knuckles turned white. Tachibana took one look at the car and nearly bit through the insulator in his cigarette before turning away. 

Reaching across slowly, Iketani picked up one of the clearer photos of the hatchback on the downhill, other hand coming up to rub against his face. Looking closer to the script, his eyebrows furrowed and he looked over his shoulder to the owner of the gas station. 

“I thought he wasn’t able to drive yet, sir?”

Tachibana glanced back over and shook his head, scowl deeping. “He shouldn’t be,” the older man grumbled, slightly gripping at his chin as he took a closer look at the photo. Itsuki shifted uncomfortably and avoided looking at anyone else in the room, including the photos. 

Ryosuke and Keisuke shared a look. The blond’s eyebrows raised up, and they both looked over at Iketani and Tachibana simultaneously. It was Ryosuke who spoke first, however. 

“If you don’t mind my asking, who shouldn’t be driving? Do you know who drives that car?” 

Tachibana looked up in surprise, as if he’d forgotten that the Takahashi brothers were still there. It soon morphed into exasperation and he motioned to the unsorted stack of photos still sitting in the envelope. 

“If you look there, you’ll probably see the same car going uphill and then down again. It belongs to an old friend of mine, that Eight-Six,” he explained, “Owns a tofu shop here in Shibukawa, which does deliveries up every morning to the hotel across from Lake Akina. He’d gotten into a really bad accident nearly a year ago, and was released from the Hospital a few months later. He’s still got problems with his back, I think, and the doctors advised him to stay away from driving for a while...”

Itsuki shuffled again, shifting through the photos of the car silently. Iketani and Kenji both avoided eye-contact, letting the boss continue his story. The brothers shared another glance, a cold feeling curling in Keisuke’s gut. They hadn’t told anyone about the Fujiwara Keisuke met at the base of the lake.

Ryosuke cleared his throat slightly, glancing between all the members of the room before looking back to Tachibana. “He certainly seems to be an exceptional driver despite his accident,” Keisuke could tell that his brother was choosing his words carefully as Ryosuke continued, “and if he drives every morning he may also know something about this Ghost of Akina. Where is his shop located?” 

It was silent while the shop owner lit up a new cigarette and took a pull off of it. Looking out the window while blowing off the smoke, Tachibana shifted his weight and finally addressed Ryosuke, “near Ikaho. It's named Fujiwara Tofu, you’ll probably see the Trueno parked out next to it. His name’s Fujiwara Bunta. Though, if you two do go over to talk to him, know this,” He took another breath from his cigarette before leveling Ryosuke with a rather serious look. 

“His son died in the same car accident that put him in the hospital.”

//

The yellow FD stood out against the older buildings as it rolled down one of the many one lane streets in Ikaho, Shibukawa. Keisuke kept his eyes ahead, making sure to stay out of the way of any oncoming traffic while his brother looked for the tofu shop from the passenger seat. After hearing about the owner of the eight-six tofu delivery car, they’d decided to go and see whether or not they had any supernatural experiences during one of his deliveries up the mountain. 

So far, Keisuke has successfully avoided being asked about the person he met at the top of the mountain by his brother.

Reaching the simple shop, Keisuke parked his car across the street and took a look at the small Panda Trueno housed in the lot. Despite being nearly ten years old already, the car was expertly cared for, as the paint was vibrant and the body looked to be dent free. The brothers exited the Mazda and made their way to the shop. 

The shop door was propped open, and as they neared, faint music from a local radio station could be heard from inside. Ryosuke entered first, yet the closer Keisuke walked to the building, the more his stomach tied itself in a knot.

Inside was clean, a pair of counters marking off the customer-section from the tofu machinery. The morning’s ever-growing heat was slightly stifled with an oscillating fan in the corner. At one of the counters sat an older man smoking a cigarette and reading a newspaper. From a glance one could tell he looked thin, as if he’d only just risen from ordered bedrest. As Keisuke walked in behind his brother, the man looked up and set down his newspaper. Flicking some ash from his cigarette, he stood and faced them. 

“What can I get for you?” 

Ryosuke had apparently already looked through the selection presented in the countertop windows as he looked over and smiled politely, “I’d like some of your yuba, please.” Keisuke felt eyes on him, and looked up to see both the shopkeeper and Ryosuke looking at him. Freezing up slightly, he glanced around and picked the first thing that looked appetizing, “Uh, some fried tofu, please.” The shopkeeper only hummed and set to packaging their orders. 

A beat passed in near-silence before Ryosuke took a step forward and introduced the both of them. “We’re here because we’ve heard from a local street racing team there's a rumor of a ghost on the slopes of Mount Akina. Your name is Fujiwara Bunta, right? Have you heard of it?”

The shopkeeper didn’t stop in packaging the order, simply humming to show that he had heard Ryosuke. Placing the bag on the top of the counter, he entered something into the cash register. “I haven’t heard anything. 745 yen.” 

Ryosuke pulled out the appropriate amount, placing it into the small tray for Bunta to collect. 

The man busied himself with the register, and as Keisuke was about to move to leave, Ryosuke asked another question. “I’ve heard that you deliver to the hotel at the top of the lake every morning, and that you’ve been running this shop by yourself for a bit…” Keisuke could see the moment Bunta’s attitude changed, the man’s expression closing off and his movements stilling. He didn’t look over to Ryosuke, but the blond could tell his brother was trodding into very serious territory. 

“You seem to know a lot about me and my shop.” He simply said, closing the register and crossing his arms, leaning against the counter after he finally turned to look at the Takahashis. Keisuke had to admit, if there wasn’t a counter between them, he would start to feel a bit intimidated. The man may have seemed frail as he was resting on his stool earlier, but now he could tell that working with tofu crates all day did lend itself to keeping the shopkeeper in shape. 

His brother sensed the change as well, holding up his hand placatingly and bowing slightly. “Ah, I apologize. We came to Shibukawa after Iketani Koichiro asked us to look into the Ghost of Akina, and along the way we met your friend Tsukibana Yuichi. He told us about your shop after Keisuke noticed your car one morning going down the pass. You drive rather expertly, I’ve heard.” 

The man simply  _ ‘hmm’ _ ed, not moving his position whatsoever. Keisuke felt uncomfortable, unable to tell much from his expression, and felt that they were on the fast track of being kicked out. Something about this building, however, had caught the blond’s attention as they walked in, as if there was something tying this place to the experiences on the pass. So, before his brother could dig themselves any deeper, Keisuke finally spoke up. 

“Look, uh, Fujiwara-san, we heard about your son. Not a whole lot, just that he died in a car accident you two were in. We know what it’s like to almost lose a family member like that, but still, I can only imagine what you’re going through. Aniki here was being insensitive, asking you questions like we’re the cops or somethin’. Tsukibana told us about how you only got out of the hospital recently, and you’ve been runnin’ this shop on your own since. You probably don’t wanna keep talkin to us about this shi- uh, stuff, so we’ll get out of yer hair. Thanks for the tofu, though, I’m sure it’ll be great.” 

Keisuke bowed, though it wasn’t really too much of one, before he moved to walk out of the shop with his brother. Ryosuke bowed, but before he followed, he looked back towards Bunta. The older man had unfolded his arms, now pulling across an ashtray and lighting a cigarette. He raised an eyebrow upon noticing the other, and frowned slightly. 

His brother just had to push his luck, shifting the bag of tofu to his other hand and checking his watch. “Excuse me for asking, but my brother saw you doin deliveries early in the morning, around four-ish? Keisuke is a professional driver, he can be here tomorrow morning to help you do the run up the mountain and back.” 

Keisuke whipped his head around, eyes wide and looking at Ryosuke. What the fuck was his brother doing? He didn’t wanna get up at ass-o-clock in the morning to help some guy who was probably ready to forcibly remove them from his shop just minutes earlier! He was sure the old man didn’t want his help anyways, by the way his eyebrows shot up to his hairline and he was putting his cigarette down. 

However, after learning to talk himself out of trouble throughout his street racer career, Ryosuke simply smiled and didn’t give the man time to respond. “I’ll let you think on it, yeah? My brother even has his own car if you don’t feel comfortable letting him use your Eight-Six. He’ll be by tomorrow morning for your answer. Have a good day.” And in the next moment, Keisuke was being pulled from the shop by a hand above his elbow. 

“You-” he started once they were on the street, but got quickly shut down by his brother. 

“You know as well as I there was something up with that shop, Keisuke, I could feel it myself. Some sort of strong spiritual presence. I’m assuming the way you described it, that man isn’t the Fujiwara you met at the top of the mountain, is it?” he said, the both of them now standing on each side of the FD. Keisuke was too struck to bother trying to unlock the doors. 

“Well, yeh, but-” 

“No buts, this will be the best chance we can probably get to see if this car is the phantom one on Akina. Look at the Trueno, it’s white, flip up headlights, and it’s got a four-cylinder. Fits the description pretty well, yeah?” 

He frowned, looking down the street to the car in question, feeling a cold sensation settling in his gut just by the sight of it. If it wasn’t the old man driving the car, who in the world was that kid he met at the car park? 

Silent for a moment more, Keisuke sighed in exasperation, and finally unlocked the doors so they could get in the Mazda. Flopping down into his seat, Keisuke grumbled as he turned on the car. 

“Aniki, I swear, you’re gonna owe me one for getting up so goddamn early.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Im officially at the end of my pre-written chapters....,,, shall see how it goes from here

**Author's Note:**

> i hope you like it! I've also started an ini d discord server! mostly to talk about how takumi deserves all the love, and also keikumi. If you're interested, feel free to send me a message on tumblr, [@eereii!](https://www.eereii.tumblr.com)


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